Winding Down

I can’t wait to graduate. This has been a wild and crazy ride, but it’s almost over…the high school portion at least.

It has been really hard not being allowed to have a job. I can’t afford to put gas in my truck or my truck payments. Much less pay for the other little things I need like school supplies, etc. It is super frustrating. Especially when my parents get angry when I can’t afford things and ask for money, yet they are the ones who won’t let me get a job.


But club soccer season is coming up soon so hopefully I can get some reffing in and at least make a little bit, enough to get by anyways.


College will be super crazy, just like high school is. I will probably have to schedule bathroom and snack breaks into my day to make sure I get everything done like I do now (not really, but just about).


But at least I will have the option of working. Even if it is only on weekends, life will be easier when I can pay the bills rather than relying on my little brother to put gas in my truck.


So, the challenge is almost over. It’s kind of sad really, I’ve grown really fond of my coach, Kelsey. She has taught me so much.


But now the presentation aspect is looming in the near future. One more thing to fit in! But it’s alright, I’m super excited about showing off all I have learned and teaching my friends how to be financially smart as well.


I’m so glad A Plus has so many programs like this to teach high school students about money. As I have learned, it is super easy to mess up, just once, and be completely screwed for the rest of your life. For example, one over draft charge can affect your credit, which affects loans for the house or car you want.


I am very grateful for being able to have this experience and learn how to be financially savvy (not from experience!!).


And for people not in the challenge, check out their website. It has TONS of awesome, free stuff to help you learn about your money. Yeah, there is more to life than money. But money definitely controls the majority of it. A girl’s gotta eat!


Can’t wait to share how my presentation ends up going, but for now its top secret!


-Katelyn S.

Saving and Investing: What's The Difference?

I recently learned that there is quite a large difference between investing and saving.


For example, when you invest, you are able to earn more money in a shorter period of time, while with saving it usually takes quite a bit longer to earn the same amount of money.


There are many people in this country as well as in the rest of the world who invest their money in so many different things, such as banks and other famous stores. Unfortunately, when the economy began to have certain issues, these investors lost more money than they had originally invested and gained.


You can invest in real estate, the stock market, savings bonds, and more. A lot of people invest for retirement, so they can live better and not need to have a job.

Saving is another good way to earn money. When you add money to your accounts, depending on your bank or credit union, you can gain interest for putting it in there in the first place.


You gain money much slower than you would if you invested, but you are able to at least have money growing as you put in deposits and when you gain the interest. Be sure you don't use a lot of money from your accounts.


When you look at the long run, it does indeed help to save and invest for your future though, and try not to use your credit card!


By the way, my mom and I have to save extra money in order to go to Kuwait and Egypt like we are planning for my birthday. That is going to take quite a few pay days, and could possibly be slightly quicker if we invested, but we prefer to save for now with the economy as it is.

Talk and write again soon!


- Lynda

Setting, and Achieving, Goals

Setting goals is an easy thing to do, achieving them is the challenge.

That is an important thing to keep in mind when you are setting a goal for yourself. You have to ask yourself, is this goal attainable, or just something unrealistic? The key in this is to set a goal that you can achieve.

People tend to set goals and never actually achieve them because the fact that setting a goal is easy but losing sight of it is even easier.

After our luncheon about setting smart goals I realized that just thinking about a goal doesn’t help you achieve it, you have to take action and DO something! Here are some steps to take to help you achieve your goal

Take a stand!

A big factor is how much effort you will really contribute to accomplishing this goal. SO before you set any goal for yourself whether it’s a goal pertaining to your occupation or a personal goal you set just for you, take a stand in your mind that despite what obstacles it involves you will stick with it till it is FULLY accomplished.

Divide your goals into three categories

- One category being short-term goals (within the next three months), for example…a pair of shoes you want

- One category being intermediate-term goals (between three months and a year), for example…a spring break trip you plan on taking.

- And the last category being long-term goals (more than a year), for example…saving for college

Get your priorities straight

Your goals need to be in sync with your priorities, according to the type of goal being set. Look at your present situation first and evaluate where you are failing to improve there so that you can foreshadow how your long-term goals will turn out and if indeed they are realistic to fit you.

You also have to make sure they are SMART goals. In the last luncheon we learned what each word in SMART (according to setting goals) stands for:

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Time bound

It is important to keep all these key points in mind when setting your smart goals.

Write them down!

Sure people will say, “Why do I have to write them down? That’s silly, I know them all already, that is just a waste of time.”

Despite how silly you think this is, it WORKS!

Put them on your mirror, in your sock drawer, wherever you will see them. By seeing your goals every day, it enables you to not lose sight of them, which helps you better achieve them in the long run. When you just have them in your head not written somewhere for your eyes to attract, you may forget or not be reminded of them as you would if you saw them every day to motivate you!

Re-evaluate, take a second look.

Once you have them written down, make sure they are realistic and attainable for you. Are they way out of reach? Are they to simple? Don’t set goals just for the sake of setting goals, that’s not really the point here. Make your goals meaningful and with that make sure you also have the willingness, vigor, and determination to achieve these goals.

Make a PLAN

Depending on your goal, there may be many different ways to approach how to achieve it based on your ideal outcome of it. You have written the goals down, re-evaluated them, now time to get down to business! Decide on your plan of action and go for it.

Keep up with your progress!

This is very important because without it you don’t get the idea that you’re actually making progress and moving in the right direction of achieving your goal in your ideal time frame. Do any kind of tracking with your progress as much as possible, write it down, make a checklist on paper or in your head, or have checkpoints for yourself at certain dates so that you KNOW progress is being made.

Tell other people about your goals.

It is always good to involve others in your process of achieving goals. No one said you had to do it all by yourself! Be open to suggestions and advice they might have, it could possibly help you achieve your goal quicker or in a more efficient way.

Accept failure

If you learn to take on failure and keep going, there is nothing that can stop you from attaining your goal. There are supposed to be obstacles throughout the process that is natural! If you learn to be welcoming and accepting of it, the better off you will be. And most importantly, LEARN FROM IT!

Persist and review

It is important to review your plan regularly and make any adjustments if needed. With this comes persistence! Don’t give up, there may be many different paths you can take in order to achieve this goal, so try out different ones.

CELEBRATE!

When you have achieved your goal cross it off your list with a smile, knowing that you did it! You have essentially shortened your path to your final destination so live it up.

Revisit your list and ask yourself:

- Are my existing goals still worth achieving?

- Is there a new goal to add to my list?

- Is there an existing goal I want to drop or change?

- Don’t lose sight of your goals; stay focused till you reach your final destination!

That’s all for now :)

-Solana

Summer Time (almost)

In about three months school will be out, and for me, my high school career will end.

Right now is the perfect time to start saving for things to do in the summer. For me, that means going to the beach, hanging out at the river, road tripping and working as little as possible so I will be able to attend my friends’ graduation parties.

I know that I will be spending quite a bit of money this summer, so I need to prepare for it.

Step one: Cut down my spending money. Even though I don’t buy too many things or splurge on myself when shopping, I need to cut the amount of money I blow on random things. One major place I tend to spend my money is on restaurants, so I need to start eating at home more often.

Step two: Work more hours. Between school, sports and extracurriculars finding time to work is pretty hard, but with soccer season coming to an end I will hopefully be able to find more time in my schedule to work more hours. I also need to start picking up shifts so that that I can work doubles, that way I will be working eight or more hours in a day.

Step three: Start carpooling. One of my main expenses is paying for gas and with gas prices on the rise again my account is hurting. By carpooling I will be able to reduce the amount of gas I use and therefore the amount of money I spend on gas. This is also an excellent way do my part to help the environment.

Now that I have a plan to save money for the summer I actually need to follow through.

Not only do I need to save money in order to be able to have a good time with my friends this summer, but I also need to save so that I will have enough money to buy things for college.

Since I am no longer going to live at home I will need to buy many new things like bedding, a microwave, a refrigerator, and storage units for my closest and under my bed. Hopefully I will be able to save enough money necessary so may be able to do all that I wish to do.

-Iris

Home Stretch

This semester has been super stressful so far, and it is barely getting started. There has been so much going on it has been hard to focus on the challenge.

But with the final presentation coming up I need to carve out some time to start working on it. I have a fairly good idea of what it is I want to focus on; it's just actually finding time to put together the presentation that is hard.

Not only are my weeks booked with school, soccer, and clubs, but now my weekends are booked to with church, HOSA competition, Happening, etc. Time is hard to come by the last semester of your senior year.

Another big thing coming up is taxes and the FAFSA. I made less than $4,000 this year, yet somehow I owe the government $150. That is half a truck payment plus a tank of gas! And that is after my mom and I sat down and found ways to lower it, saving me $120.

Now that we have filed our taxes we can start on the FAFSA, which is best to get in ASAP. Money is given out on a first come first serve basis, so I am going to be first!

Baylor is expensive ($40,000 a year), and I need all the help I can get. I am also applying for every scholarship I can get my hands on, including another from A Plus.

Trying to keep my grades, GPA, and rank as high as possible as well as applying for all the free money I can possibly get will help keep me from having to take out a lot of loans.

Because although loans can be helpful, Kelsey and the "Foolproof" program online (which is free and available to everyone, so check it out!) have taught me that you have to be super careful with them. It is so easy to wreck your credit for the rest of your life, especially for college and high school students who are often uninformed.

For example, how many high school seniors who are looking at taking out some loans for college know the difference between subsidized and unsubsidized loans? I know I didn’t until Kelsey taught me.

So my advice to people my age: don’t go into it without knowing the facts. Take time to learn it before jumping into it, because a lot of times financial mistakes are hard to fix. Credit card companies, banks, loan agencies, etc. tend to not be as forgiving as one would hope. So make sure you take the time to check out the details, I know I will.

- Katelyn S.